


Sweet and Salty

by XaverianQueenChrissy



Category: IDOLiSH7 (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor, Pre-Idolish7
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-05-12
Updated: 2019-05-12
Packaged: 2020-03-01 15:10:06
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,264
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18802828
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/XaverianQueenChrissy/pseuds/XaverianQueenChrissy
Summary: 1989, twenty six years before the debut of one of Japan's top idol groups, and many years before the start of the idol boom. One high school student, with the help of her music-loving, aloof best friend, tries to win the heart of the baker's son: the cool and sharp Izumi-senpai. Valentine's day was the perfect opportunity to confess her feelings, but naturally, nothing ever goes as planned.This is the love story of Iori and Mitsuki's parents.





	Sweet and Salty

**Author's Note:**

> I decided to celebrate mothers day by writing 3k+ words about Iori and Mitsuki's parents falling in love. This was 70% inspired by Iori's birthday photobook rabbit chat, and seeing the adorable interactions between his parents, and 30% me being curious about what idolish7's parents look like and it led to this.
> 
> This is purely self-indulgent and I highly doubt any of this is canon compliant but I hope you like it!

February 13, 1989. Nagayama high school in Tokyo was buzzing with excitement for the upcoming holiday. Girls were spending lunch hour making handmade cards for their beloved, while the boys were already taking bets on who would get the most chocolate.  
Second year Kasumi Hiroko had no interest in romance. Her love was music, after all. She dreamed of opening a music club one day, running her own business and being surrounded by sweet melodies sounded better than being a housewife with two or three children. Thus, she avoided the idea of romance since she started high school.  
Her best friend, however, had a very different outlook on life. While they were close, and Kasumi supported her friend’s pursuit of romantic endeavours, valentine’s day was starting to tire her out, and it wasn’t even the fourteenth yet.  
“Kasumi-chan,” a voice whispered from her right as she sat at her desk, quietly eating her lunch.  
She put down her bento and turned to look right into the big, brown eyes of her best friend, second year Hitomi Yuzuki, leaning over her desk as if she had a deep secret to tell.  
“What’s up?” she asked.  
“You know Izumi-senpai, right?”  
Izumi Hideki from year three class five was the student council president, an honours student, and all around a very smart, very good looking senpai. Even Kasumi couldn’t deny it. He was kind, and outgoing, and all the girls in the school, and some of the boys, have massive crushes on him.  
“What about him?” she asked.  
Hitomi was practically vibrating where she was standing.  
“His parents own a bakery,” she whispered, “fonte chocolat! Rumour has it he’s going to take over the business once he graduates university!”  
“Woa, that expensive patisserie? That’s amazing!”  
Hitomi nodded, “I’m definitely going to make him some homemade sweets for tomorrow! The pressure is on to make sweets better than his family!”  
Kasumi narrowed her eyes, “is that a good idea?”  
Hitomi cocked her head, “what do you mean?”  
“You set your kitchen on fire twice this year alone. It’s February.”  
“I’ll be extra careful not to burn them! They’re for my future husband after all!”  
Kasumi laughed to herself, tucking a lock of pale pink hair behind her ear, a habit of hers.  
“You’re not the only one who thinks you’re his future bride, you know. You have some competition.”  
Hitomi’s cheeks puffed up.  
“I won’t lose!”  
The bell rang, signalling the end of lunch. Hitomi marched back to her seat with a sense of purpose.  
“What an airhead,” Kasumi murmured fondly to herself.

The next day, the school was abuzz with joy over valentines day.  
Hitomi felt like she was floating on air when she walked into the classroom that morning.  
“You’re in a good mood.” Kasumi commented.  
“I got to give my chocolate to Izumi-senpai, and he thanked me! He looked suuuper happy to see me!”  
Kasumi laughed, “is that so?”  
“Here, I saved you one!” she produced a couple chocolates in a little plastic bag from her school bag. They were simple, square milk chocolates, decorated with white chocolate and tiny pink chocolate flowers  
“Woa, I’m impressed, they’re really pretty!” Kasumi exclaimed.  
“See? I told you I can make good sweets!” Hitomi bragged, “I even put a ribbon in my hair today! There’s not way he won’t remember me!”  
“You look beautiful,” Kasumi smiled, tugging on the scrunchie holding her own hair in place.  
The bell for homeroom rang before Kasumi could eat the chocolate she was given, so she stashed it in her bag for later. Given the appearance, it was sure to be a sweet treat for later.  
The chocolate was left forgotten until the two girls were walking back to the train station after school.  
“Hey, did you taste my chocolate yet?” Hitomi asked.  
“Oh, they’re still in my bag, I completely forgot!”  
The two girls stopped walking so that Kasumi could pull out the bag of chocolate, thankfully not melted.  
“The details on these chocolates really are amazing,” Kasumi commented, examining the small square intently.  
“I bought special tools at the store for molding the chocolate flowers! I also used candy melts so I could get them that colour!” she bragged.  
“They look like they taste delicious, are you sure you made these?”  
“Shut up!”  
Kasumi laughed, popping the chocolate in her mouth.  
Hitomi watched as her best friend’s face contorted into one of horror and disgust, her rose coloured eyes widening in shock as she immediately spit it out.  
“You meanie! You did that on purpose!” Hitomi exclaimed.  
“What did you do to them?!” Kasumi cried, not caring how unladylike she looked as she spit out as much of the flavour as she could, “shit, I need water!”  
“They taste just fine!”  
“Did you even taste them before you packaged them?!”  
“No!”  
“Why not?!”  
Hitomi scowled, grabbing the other chocolate and popping it in her mouth. Much like Kasumi, she ended up spitting out the offending candy as well.  
“Oh no!” she exclaimed, “Kasumi-chan! I used salt instead of sugar!”  
Kasumi howled with laughter after realizing that the horrible flavour was, in fact, salt.  
“Well, Izumi-senpai is definitely going to remember you now!”  
“Oh my god, what have I done?!” Hitomi covered her face in embarrassment, “I put my name on them! Kasumi-chan, you have to help me!”  
“What do you want me to do?”  
“Come with me to fonte chocolat so I can explain myself!”  
“What?! No way! You dug yourself into this mess!”  
“Please, you just have to be there!”  
Hitomi’s puppy dog pout was deadly, and she knew it. Kasumi couldn’t resist her big round eyes and long eyelashes batting as she pleaded for her friend to help her.  
“Fine,” she scoffed, “but you’re doing all the talking.”

  
They set out in the opposite direction to their neighbourhood, to the fancy patisserie they definitely couldn’t afford to visit without an ulterior motive. Which, in this case, was to plead Izumi-senpai for forgiveness.  
“Uwah, I’m so nervous,” Hitomi exclaimed as they stood outside of fonte chocolat.  
“You know, you don’t have to do this. You can just pretend this never happened and give up on him altogether.”  
“That’s what you would do, Kasumi-chan.”  
Kasumi sighed, slinging her arm over her friend’s shoulders.  
“Well, if you had tasted your chocolate first, we wouldn’t be in this mess. Now, let’s go.”  
Kasumi all but dragged Hitomi into the shop, alerting the person at the front counter, who happened to be Izumi Hideki himself.  
“Ah, good afternoon!” he greeted.  
“G-g-g-g-good a-a-a-fartnoon,” Hitomi stammered.  
“Hello Izumi-senpai,” Kasumi greeted smoothly, “I trust your day is going well.”  
“It is, thank you for asking, Hiroko-san.”  
“He knows your name?!” Hitomi gasped under her breath.  
“I’m in the student council with him, have you really forgotten about that?” she whispered back.  
“I know your name too, Yuzuki-san,” he smiled, “Hiroko-san talks about you a lot. Thank you again for the chocolates, I’m sure they’ll be delicious.”  
“Well...about that…”  
“Ah, while you two are here, can I ask you a favour,” he asked before disappearing behind the door to the kitchen.  
“I don’t think he ate them yet,” Hitomi whispered.  
“Yeah no shit,” Kasumi whispered back.  
Hideki returned with a cookie sheet full of cookies.  
“I’m trying a new recipe, and I feel like they’re missing something, I just don’t know what. Think you girls can give them a taste and let me know what you think?”  
Hitomi forgot all about why she arrived and ran right to the counter where the cookies were kept. They were still warm, but not too hot to eat.  
“Itadakimasu~!” she exclaimed before taking a big, unladylike bite.  
To Kasumi’s surprise, Hideki laughed at her sloppy manners.  
“You have one too, Hiroko-san.”  
“Oh, thank you,” Kasumi took one and after giving her thanks, took a small bite.  
Her eyes lit up.  
“Wow, you’re really good at baking, senpai!”  
“Thank you! My parents trained me well. Yuzuki-san, what do you think?”  
Her face was contorted into one of concentration.  
“You should halve the cinnamon, and add nutmeg,” she thought to herself, “maybe some orange zest to brighten it up.”  
Realizing she was critiquing her crush’s baking, she stood stiff as a board, flushing bright red, “I-I’m so sorry, I didn’t mean to-”  
Hideki took a bite out of his own cookie.  
“I wouldn’t taking cooking advice from her, senpai,” Kasumi warned.  
“Actually, I think she’s right.”  
Hitomi blinked in surprise, “really?”  
“Yeah, you have an excellent pallet.”  
“Excellent?” Kasumi whispered to herself.  
“I’ll get to making them right now. Do you want to help me, Yuzuki-san?”  
“M-m-m-me?!”  
“Hiroko-san can join if she wants.”  
“Ah, sorry senpai, I need to get home,” Kasumi took this as her cue to leave, “but you two have fun!”  
“Kasumi-chan…” Hitomi looked like she was going to faint.  
“You’ll be fine, call me when you get home, okay?”  
With a wave and a thanks, Kasumi left the bakery, leaving the two of them alone.

  
“Come on, we have a spare apron for you,” Hideki took her hand and led her to the kitchen. The whole time, Hitomi wasn’t sure if she was going to puke, or faint. This was not how she expected her day to go at all.  
“Here, I’ll take your blazer,” he offered. She did as she was told, and rolled up the sleeves of her school uniform before putting on the apron.  
“Oh yeah, I guess I forgot to ask why you two dropped by,” Hideki mentioned as he dug through the spice cupboard for nutmeg.  
“Ah, yeah…” Hitomi blushed. He had just complimented her pallet, she didn’t want him learning the truth about her cooking skills.  
“I hope I didn’t chase out a paying customer,” he teased, referring to Kasumi, who had just left.  
Hitomi shook her head, “Kasumi doesn’t like sweets very much.”  
“She doesn’t seem like the type to dislike sweets,” he commented, measuring flour, “though, maybe it’s because her hair and eyes remind me of candy.”  
“Ah, yeah, not many people in Japan are naturally that...pink. I just have plain black hair.”  
“I like your hair, the ribbon looks pretty,” he smiled, “want to help me with the wet ingredients?”  
“The what?”  
Hideki laughed, “you know, the milk, eggs, vanilla, and oil. They need to be mixed separately from the dry ingredients, like the flour, baking powder, and salt.”  
“They do? That’s why my cookies always turn out horribly…”  
“I’m sure they’re fine,” he reassured her, “come on, I have what you need already laid out.”  
While she poured the milk just fine, when it came to breaking the eggs, to her shock, she kept dropping shells in the bowl.  
“Oh no, I messed up!”  
“Ah, shells can be tricky,” he reassured her, “here, let me help.”  
Ever so gently, he scooped out all the shells with a spoon.  
“I’m sorry.”  
“No need to apologize, I’ve fought with eggs for years,” he reassured her, rubbing her back, causing her to blush.  
“R-r-r-right.”  
Somehow, they successfully put the revised cookies in the oven.  
“Is it just you today?” she asked, now painfully aware it was just the two of them.  
“Yeah, I gave my parents the afternoon off, they’ve been ridiculously busy with valentines day the past week or so. They’ll be back in a few hours to close. They still don’t trust me to close the register at eighteen.”  
“My parents stopped letting me go on errands after I mistook a thousand yen bill for a ten thousand yen bill,” Hitomi admitted.  
Hideki couldn’t hold his laughter at that one.  
“Hey! Don’t laugh!”  
“I’m sorry! I just...how did you make that kind of mistake?!”  
“I don’t know!”  
“I’ve never done that,” he reassured her, “if I did, I don’t think I’d even be allowed to handle money.”  
“Yeah, it’s probably not good for business. Speaking of business, it’s quiet right now.”  
“Yeah, most people are out on dates right now, they’ll probably come for dessert later, so we’ll see more traffic then,” he explained.  
“Why aren’t you on a date?” she asked bluntly, immediately covering her mouth when she realized what she had said, “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to be rude, I just-”  
“Isn’t this a date?” he asked with a wink.  
Hitomi was definitely going to overheat hearing that.  
“Ah, I hope I didn’t startle you!” Hideki exclaimed, “if you want, we can go out properly!”  
“Wait, you’re serious?!”  
“Of course I am.”  
“Why me?” she asked, “you’re _Izumi Hideki_ , you could have anyone!”  
“But I don’t want just anyone,” he reassured her with a smile, “Hiroko-san speaks highly of you, and you’re pretty cute. I was super happy when I got honmei chocolate from you!”  
“Ahhh, yeah...that…” she laughed nervously.  
“I’m sorry, I was too busy to taste them, but I’ve got time now.”  
Hitomi watched in horror as he walked over to his school bag and pulled them out.  
“Please don’t eat those!” she exclaimed.  
“Why? They’re cute!”  
“I screwed up the recipe…” she confessed.  
“I’m sure it won’t be that bad.”  
Hideki popped a chocolate in his mouth before she could stop him. Her heart sank to her knees as his eyes widened and he coughed in surprise.  
“I told you-”  
“They’re delicious!” he exclaimed, despite the fact that his eyes were watering and he was definitely struggling not to gag.  
“You can tell the truth, senpai!” she exclaimed, “I know they taste bad!”  
With a lot of struggle, he swallowed the offending chocolate.  
“See? It’s edible,” he reassured her, pouring himself a glass of water from the tap and drinking the whole thing at once.  
“My mom buys a lot of things in bulk, and the bulk sugar was next to the bulk salt…” she explained sheepishly.  
“Ah, I’ve done that before.”  
“Really?!”  
Hideki nodded, “yeah, my first time baking cupcakes. We almost sold them, too. Thankfully my mom insisted on doing a taste test. That could’ve been really bad.”  
Hitomi sighed in relief, “so you’re not mad?”  
“Not at all!”  
“I wanted to make chocolate that would impress you…” she confessed, her face heating up.  
“The decorations are beautiful, that alone was enough to impress me!” he insisted.  
“I’ve liked you for awhile, senpai,” she finally confessed, shifting awkwardly.  
The timer rang, startling both of them.  
“Ah, sorry Yuzuki-san, those are the cookies!” Hideki exclaimed, reaching for the oven mitts to take them out of the oven.  
Hitomi felt like her heart was going to beat out of her chest. Had she really just confessed to the coolest boy in school? She was bracing herself for the sting of rejection that would cause her to spend her allowance money on cheap sweets before spending the evening crying on the phone with Kasumi.  
“They smell great,” Hideki praised, placing them on the table, “I’m sure they’ll taste even better.”  
“I hope so.”  
“Hey, when my parents return, why don’t you and I go out to dinner,” he suggested, “a proper first date, you know?”  
“D-d-d-date?!”  
“I like you too, Yuzuki-san.”  
“Really?!”  
Hideki nodded, “really. It’s hard to approach you at school, since you’re stuck of Hiroko-san like glue. A lot of boys in the school think she’s your bodyguard or something.”  
Hitomi laughed, “no no, it’s not like that at all. I’m surprised, really. Kasumi-chan is always calm like a warm breeze, I didn’t think boys would be intimidated by her.”  
“She does have a warm energy to her. Maybe it’s because she’s so put off by the opposite sex?” Hideki questioned.  
“Maybe…”  
“So is that a yes to the date or…?”  
“Of course!” she exclaimed, hitting the cookie sheet and sending the cookies flying.  
“Whoop,” Hideki commented, catching the cookie sheet with ease and steadying it so only two cookies ended up on the floor.  
“Sorry,” she apologized again, “I think I’m a bit of a liability in the kitchen.”  
“It’s fine,” he laughed, “we’ll practice, okay?”  
The cookies ended up being delicious, and the batch they made sold out before the store closed that night. Hitomi’s taste buds were praised non-stop by Hideki, who took her out on a date like he promised.  
Hitomi would say it was a successful valentines day, as one date turned into two, which turned into her being the amazing Izumi-senpai’s girlfriend.

 

* * *

 

 

**OMAKE**

  
Two years passed like a speeding bullet train, and Hitomi and Hideki were still madly in love. The two of them found themselves in the same university as Kasumi, who was studying music theory, and just as uninterested in finding a husband as she was in high school.  
The three of them were heading the same direction after classes were over, Hitomi holding onto Hideki’s arm like an old married couple, and Kasumi holding her folder of sheet music close to her chest.  
“I want udon,” Hitomi complained, “can we go get udon?”  
“I don’t have the money for udon,” Hideki complained.  
“What about conveyor belt sushi?”  
“You just want to go on a date again.”  
“You got me!” Hitomi stuck her tongue out playfully.  
“Hiroko-san, do you want to join us?” Hideki offered.  
Kasumi chuckled, tucking a lock of pale hair behind her ear; a habit she never was quite able to break.  
“Sorry, I’m going to go practice my piano arrangement, besides, I don’t think you guys need me to third wheel again, do you?”  
“We love having you join us!” Hitomi exclaimed.  
Hideki nodded in agreement.  
“Thank you, but I do need to practice.”  
“Alright, I’ll see you at home, Kasumi-chan!”  
“Bye bye.”  
Kasumi watched with a fond smile as her two dear friends took off towards the train station.  
“They really do compliment each other,” she murmured to herself.  
As she turned towards the direction of the music building, she saw a blur of red out of the corner of her eye, and before she could process what had happened, she was on the ground with her sheet music scattered everywhere.  
“Ow…”  
“Oh my god, are you okay?! I’m so sorry!” a masculine voice exclaimed in worry.  
Rubbing her shoulder, she blinked her eyes open and was immediately met by a set of bright, round, carnelian red eyes staring back in concern.  
“I’m fine,” she reassured him, taking the man’s outstretched hand as he helped her up. She took in more details about him: Hand calluses of a guitar player, untamed auburn hair, ears that stuck out a little, and the energy of someone who was very emotionally charged, almost more so than Hitomi.  
“Oi, Nanase!” a group of men jeered from across the courtyard, “that’s not how you hit on girls!”  
“Shut up!” he shouted back before turning his attention to helping Kasumi collect her music.  
“I really am sorry, I’m late for class and I wasn’t paying attention,” he stammered.  
“It’s fine, really,” she reassured him.  
“Are you sure?”  
“Ah!” Kasumi exclaimed, realizing some of her music landed in a puddle that hadn’t dried from the rainstorm the night before.  
“Oh no! I-I’ll get another copy printed!” The man stammered.  
“It’s just water,” she reassured him with a calm smile, “you’re too worked up.”  
She could see a blush dusting his cheeks, handing back the music he had collected, “I’m sorry.”  
“Get to class, okay?”  
He nodded, breaking out into a sprint towards his building.  
She sighed, clutching her damp papers tight to her chest, trying to ignore the clenching of her stomach.  
“Weird, I must have indigestion or something,” she mumbled to herself as she resumed the walk to the music building.

**Author's Note:**

> If you guys didn't realize whose mom Kasumi is at the beginning, you definitely know now lmao.
> 
> Please picture me digging through rabbit chats gathering literal crumbs of information about them so I could write this bc that's basically what happened. I might write about the other moms in the future, but I doubt it just because there's Nothing about them.


End file.
